The present invention relates generally to electronic messaging. More particularly the invention relates to a method of organizing incoming electronic messages to a user who can access his/her messages via at least two different types of access environments. The invention also relates to an apparatus for carrying out the proposed method.
The rapid growth of distributed computer systems in recent years has significantly increased the communication of electronic messages. The most typical example of this prevalent form of asynchronous communication is the vast amount of electronic mails (e-mails) being exchanged across the Internet. These e-mails may contain a wide variety of information formats, such as text, audio, still images and video. In general, an e-mail including one or more components of the latter three formats becomes relatively large in comparison with an e-mail containing text only.
Moreover, the large number of mobile terminals, like cellular telephones, smart phones, WAP phones (WAP=Wireless Application Protocol) and laptops in today""s communication networks have increased the demand for mobile e-mail access as well as access to an e-mail service, which can be reached from various types of access environments. In some of these environments the communication channel, the e-mail client, or both, place comparatively severe limitations on the amounts of information that realistically can be communicated with the user. The limitations may be anything from experienced user comfort (accessing large e-mails over a low bandwidth network namely tends to be very tedious) to purely technical limitations (since some terminals plainly cannot present certain parts of an e-mail due to e.g. their limited display capabilities). Furthermore, a limited-bandwidth channel often means that the client communicating over the channel is relatively simple, and simple e-mail clients are sometimes completely unable to present certain kinds of information formats. Either they lack the required processing capacity or they are not equipped with appropriate display means.
It may thus be interesting for a user to be able to alleviate the problems resulting from the above-mentioned limitations.
The patent document U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,970 discloses an electronic mail system including a local computer, which can be connected to a message server over a data link. A user may hence order the system to create an off-line store on his/her local computer such that folders and messages may be manipulated in the same way that the user normally can manipulate the folders and the messages in the mailbox on the message server. Large identification codes in the message server are converted into shorter and more space-efficient identification codes, which are optimised for the local computer format. In effect, each message is consequently compacted to some extent. The actual payload information in messages is nevertheless not compressed.
The mail system according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,970 avoids some of the problems that occur when accessing e-mails over narrow-bandwidth channels, or even in access environments which completely lack a communication channel. However, once the off-line store has been created real time access to the e-mails is ruled out. When checking for fresh e-mails the user therefore must re-connect to the message server and order an updated version of the off-line store. A narrow-bandwidth channel or a non-existing channel, of course, make this problematic respective impossible.
The European patent document EP, A1, 0 886 227 describes an apparatus for accessing electronic mail messages by means of queries composed on client computers. The queries placed by a user search a full-text index to locate those of the user""s mail messages that satisfy the queries. The system also heuristically locates text strings that have the syntax of an URL (Universal Resource Locator) and makes the string a hot-link, which will retrieve the related contents over the network whenever activated. Furthermore, explicitly attached files and implicitly embedded files are located and displayed by a suitable browser. In case a user accesses the mail service via a low bandwidth network connection, an attempt is made to minimise the amount of data that are sent from the mail service system to the client computer. This is effectuated by replacing explicitly attached and implicitly embedded files by corresponding hot-links. The generation of such hot-links, however, requires a customised mail server particularly designed for accomplishing this feature.
The international application WO98/19438 relates to a messaging system for receiving, storing and originating multimedia messages. An incoming message is here stored in a database in its original format. Before the message is delivered to a user it is automatically translated into a format, which is adapted to the presentation capabilities of the user""s current terminal and the access network via which this terminal communicates with the messaging system. The automatic translation of messages, naturally, demands a particular translation unit within the system.
Consequently, the existing solutions for handling electronic messages over limited-bandwidth channels all demand customised servers and/or protocols for accomplishing the electronic messaging service. Some of the known methods further require the user clients to be especially modified in order to function correctly when accessing compressed messages.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to eliminate the above-indicated problems being associated with the known art.
It is a further object of the invention to decrease the communication of redundant information over a communications network and thereby increase the efficiency of the same.
Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to provide a user of an electronic messaging service with a perspicuous survey of his/her electronic messages in different types of access environments.
The invention solves these problems by receiving electronic messages, which each has an original data format. The electronic messages are then stored according to a first structure. Each message is processed into at least one processed electronic message. The processed electronic message has a data format, which is at least as adapted to an alternative access environment as the original data format, and the message is stored in a structure that is a mapping of the first structure. Finally, the user either accesses the original electronic message or one of the processed electronic messages. The choice of message version is based on the type of access environment that the user currently has at his/her disposal.
A method of organising incoming electronic messages according to the invention is hereby characterized by the features of the an aspect of the presently claimed invention.
An apparatus according to the invention includes a first storage area for storing electronic messages. The messages are here arranged according to a first structure and each message is presumed to have an original data format. The apparatus also includes an agent for processing the electronic messages into at least one set of processed electronic messages. Each of the processed electronic messages has a derivative data format, which is at least as adapted to an alternative access environment as the original data format of the corresponding electronic message. A second storage area is likewise included in the apparatus. This storage area stores the processed electronic messages according to a respective second structure, which is each, a mapping of the first structure.
An apparatus for accessing and sending electronic messages according to the invention is hereby characterized by the features of another aspect of the present claimed invention.
An advantage of the invention is that it makes it possible for a user to conveniently access corporate e-mail messages also on clients that have insufficient capacity for accessing these messages in their original format.
Another advantage of the invention is that standard protocols and unmodified servers and clients can be used to accomplish the service.
The invention is transparent to security schemes, for instance certificate-based and channel-based, which results in the advantageous effect of maintained security irrespective of access environment.
Yet an advantage of the invention is that it allows more than one simultaneous user access to a specific electronic message as well as to one or more of its processed counterparts.